In fact, some companies, such as Zappos, are so eager to answer customer's questions that they even answered Tweets from spam accounts:

So the short answer is yes--if you complain via Twitter, your tweet will likely be heard and addressed, since companies generally do not discriminate against people with fewer followers.

That doesn't mean, however, that companies completely ignore Twitter followings. Companies are more likely to go out of their way to please especially popular Twitter users.

"If I--with 7500 followers--complain about a meal, and then someone else--with 75 followers--complains about a meal, I think it's only common sense that my bad message is reaching 100 times more people," explains social media journalist Jeff Cutler ().

Cutler says that the person with 75 followers won't necessarily be ignored; but the person with 7500 followers may get better treatment the next time they go to the restaurant, while the person with 75 followers may have to make do with a Twitter apology.